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Wednesday, August 6, 2014

White Princess Book Review

The White Princess is written by Philippa Gregory and is the story of Elizabeth
of York and her rule as Queen of England. Elizabeth of York is the mother of
Henry VIII; the grandmother of Queen Mary I, Queen Elizabeth I and James V of Scotland; and
the great-grandmother of Mary Stuart Queen of Scots.

The
book begins with Elizabeth becoming the wife of Henry Tudor who has
become Henry VII King of England. It would be a great advantage to the
reader to have read "Lady of the Rivers", "The White Queen" and the "The
Red Queen" previously as to understand just how incredible the players
of this book are. There are so many names and tangles in the lineage and
they are so closely related that it is best to be prepared with
foreknowledge of these incredible characters. There is a curse that is
spoken of quiet often in the book, and if you do not know the lineage after
Henry VII, you might want to do some research on it. Reading "The
Constant Princess" and "The Other Boleyn Girl" by Philippa Gregory would
help.

The book itself was really well written.
Philippa Gregory does an outstanding job in developing the characters in
the book. Her history is impeccable and her "theory" of the missing
princes makes sense. I love her depiction of Henry Tudor and his mother
Margaret Beaufort Countess of Richmond (she is the Red Queen). Although
King Henry's anxiety does get a little old by the end of the book.

Queen
Elizabeth of York is a peacemaker and soother. In the book, she deals
with a suspicious husband that still has his umbilical cord attached to
his mother. She has a mother-in-law from hell and a mother (The White
Queen and former Queen of England) with a rebellious heart and spirit
that puts her and many others in danger. Throughout the book, Elizabeth
of York is second-guessed, mistrusted, and shamed; but she continuously
is dutiful and faithful to her new allegiance.

To the Christian:
This book is sexually tame compared to other Philippa Gregory
novels.The love scenes (about 4 of them throughout the whole book) are
usually no more than a paragraph long and deal mostly with Elizabeth of
York's heart than what is happening physically.
Like most books written about this time period, the Church and God are
involved in the majority of medieval royal life. Prayers, fasts, feast
days, confessions, God's sovereignty are sprinkled throughout the book.

Glory to God:
I really enjoy reading about these times in history. Everything - life,
death, weather, children or lack thereof, sickness, health, war, and so
much more are all attributed to God. So much was left to God and the
people respected His decision making. These days, we really pat
ourselves on the back more than we should. And the day things don't go
as we wanted we blame God, never thanking him for the 364 days that
things went well.

Scriptures: Our God is in the heavens, He does all that He pleases. Psalm 115:3
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is
no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted
by God. ~ Romans 13:1

If you are interested in this book, you can order it via Amazon by clicking here